This might seem biased but I’m going to go away and say it, the Nissan Navara PRO-4X is a great bakkie; no cap (or whatever term the youth of today use). I am intentionally referencing the youth as this bakkie has a lot of history on our shores. This statement comes from someone who is not much into bakkies even though he grew up in them.
Based on history, Nissan took the decision to have the Navara locally built in South Africa back in 2019 after the brand pledged a significant investment towards its local facility and one can see what this influence has done on the build of this variation. The PRO-4X Navara is true testament of Nissan’s commitment in building a truly “South African bakkie” – and yes, I know they are not the only ones to build locally.
The Nissan Navara is a “big” car, in that it commands attention on the road and even in a stand-off over parking space in the middle of Bryanston and it is hard not to spot one standing at 1.8m tall, 5.2m long and 1.8m wide. This, however, poses a challenge as the car seems not suited for the urban jungle as it is rather ‘large’ and does require one to take extra attention while maneuvering around the city, even though this one falls into the leisure bakkie segment on a market. But this is also an advantage in that the rather large vehicle is built to take to the farm or do some heavy lifting with the vehicle.
The cabin also carries durable finishes in the front, and it carries over to the dashboard and feels like it can take the dusty beatings and still manage to clean it up without any worries (minus the chrome bit around the gear knob that kind of differs with the silver around the infotainment and steering wheel – take note for your OCD). The other great thing is that the soft touch finishes on the dashboard material that just gives you a feel like you are not in a ‘big’ car. Personally, I feel like the front dashboard has a clean finish and the brand has taken into account how they would want one to keep this car for a very long time – or rather be durable to last very long.
In term soft comfort features, you get dual zone automatic climate control and that is on the side of the comfortable seats with the red “PRO4X” stitching in the front seats. The infotainment system has both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on top of Nissan’s own NissanConnect app through the 8” touch screen.
The final point for me has to be the looks of the car – whether you look at the car from the front or the back, this car is definitely a looker on either the road or parking lot. There is a black front plastic grill where we would normally find front bars and, personally, I felt like it was a great finish as these cars are prone to get scratches while working off-road. The daytime running lights look incredible through the LED not forgetting that the look carries through to the back. Future owners will not have to worry about physically jumping in and out of the car as there are sidesteps for all occupants getting in and out of the car. The rear window can be opened swiftly by the drive with flick of the button and it does not look like it’s an after thought as per older generation bakkies.
I received my test unit with no cover to the loading bay and I thought this was peculiar, until I took a closer look and realized how there is space for both a roller cover and bike rails through the back. It would make a great addition for one who is prone to doing trails on the weekends after spending their time between sites in the week.
The Navara has a 1469 mm load length, 1560 mm load width & can carry a 1004kg payload with a 3500kg towing ability for when you want to yank the kids to a bush experience along with your quad bikes.
The engine has seen a significant change in that the 2.3L turbo diesel has been upgraded to the 2.5L single turbo diesel that puts out 140kW or power and 450Nm or torque. Now, I would reiterate that this is significant when navigating the city as it is rather ‘loud’ but I would reiterate that I did not feel any lag on the performance side to a point where I felt like I really needed to visit the farms and give the bakkie the bash it truly deserves. This feels in performance rolls out onto the ride quality of the car, it works. The car takes up the bumps as much as possible and it handles like a gem at that – impressive on both counts coming from a hot hatch lover.
The price for the Navara starts at R341 500 as a base but the 2.5 DDTi PRO-4X 4X4 AT starts from R812 900 – and best believe when I say that it’s worth it. The price includes a 6 year / 90,000 km service plan and 6 year / 150,000 km warranty.
Not gonna lie, fun times have been had in The Navara PRO-4X, especially when the going went tough today. This bad boy really held its end through the urban jungle… pic.twitter.com/zpDUC9eoLn
— Sammy (@_SammySA) September 20, 2022
